Great Ways for Families to Get Physical and Build Character

In order to build unity and strengthen relationships, it’s important to form close bonds in a family. Healthy activities, such as diet and exercise, are a great way to show support for one another, participate in activities together, and promote the importance of family unity. In short, a family that plays together stays together.

Keep it Fun and Simple

The secret to building a high-function
ing family unit is including everyone, which means active family outings should be simple enough for your youngest family member to enjoy, and so much fun no one feels stressed as though they are working.

Here are some examples of activities that help your family stay healthy, but also connect you and build social bonds:

Traditional activities, such as:

Bike riding

Long walks or hikes

Roller skating

Jogging

Sports activities, such as:

Basketball

Soccer

Tennis

Baseball

Tennis: a Game for the Entire Family

Tennis is a perfect example of a game that can be enjoyed and learned by all. Generally speaking, courts are easy to find and tennis requires minimal equipment. You simply need rackets, tennis balls and, because you’ll be playing with your family, you’ll need something to carry your gear, such as these tennis bags from Do It Tennis.

Tennis is incredibly easy to learn, and it can be played indoors and outdoors ensuring you have something to enjoy with your family all year round. Instructables.com offers instructions for playing tennis in 7 easy to follow steps. Tennis really is so easy that it can be taught in seven steps, and yet so much fun it’s played all over the world.

Team Building and Physical Fitness Promote Communication

Most games are played with clear winners and losers. They don’t have to be, but many are played that way with scoring systems and win/loss records. Depending on the game you play, your family will learn a lot about how one another responds to losses, overcoming obstacles, and winning. This is a great time for parents to teach their children how to win and lose with grace and fairness.

Learning teamwork is one of the most valuable aspects of family fitness. Team building is easily the most important lesson of all because it will extend beyond the field and into the family home, especially when you’re dealing with conflict or other issues. Engaging in physical activity together helps a family learn to cooperate, and helps you to develop different skills to assist one another when help is needed.

The Right Activity Promotes a Healthy Body

Your family’s physical activities should provide everyone with health benefits. Increasing stamina and building endurance are essential to a healthy life. Moreover, your activities should burn calories and help keep everyone at a healthy weight. This is how diet can be fun too. Being in the kitchen together, preparing something that is both delicious and good for you, will build essential life skills and connect you to your children.

Diet and exercise go hand-in-hand, but getting started isn’t always an easy task. Families who aren’t used to exercising should gradually increase intensity over time. Make it a point to challenge your family, as their skills develop. This is a great way for family members to raise the level of competition, and to see how far they can go when they challenge themselves and each other.

Remember: when your family engages in healthy activities together you’re doing more than just exercising. You are building stronger bonds, forging deeper connections, and discovering new things about yourself and each other.

Our family loves engaging in all of these activities, except we have yet to try playing tennis together. We love heading to our local park and playing baseball with the entire family, it is always a great way to get outside and stay active.

We love playing tennis and with two big tennis courts only 5 blocks from my house, we really have fun getting the whole family to play! I also like to throw the basketball in the hoop and have a family game together. This is very good exercise!